Twisted Shadows
by Ariel Tempest
Summary: AU. Rating might change later. This is a long piece comprised of drabbles and short shorts. What if Muraki died and was a Shinigami before Tsuzuki got there? Pairings so far - Muraki x Hisoka. More coming.
1. Toys

**Twisted Shadows**

by Kashu Arashi

Notes: This is a work in progress. Part 1 is completely finished. However, the arrangement of the various chapters is non-linear, they don't go in chronological order. You've been warned.

**Part 1: Vigils and Meetings **

_Chapter 1: Toys_

"You're going to have the Count lengthen his life span, aren't you?" Hisoka glared at his partner, his mouth twisting into a frown to avoid the sneer it wanted to form. Sneering...was a bad idea.

"He interests me. To have lived so long in such condition...I'm sure the Count and I can strike a deal."

"You don't need another play thing." Green eyes turned to watch the living body, slowly crumbling in the hospital bed that had housed it for eight years.

His partner turned and blew a cigarette ring at him. "Jealous?"

Red lines shimmered across Hisoka's skin. "No."


	2. Eternal Debt

Chapter 2: Eternal Debt

"He is a rather intriguing boy, isn't he?" Handless gloves steepled themselves in front of the Count's mask. "I can see why you're interested. Still, I will never understand why you try so hard to keep people alive now. You certainly weren't so...concerned...before, especially with your partner."

Candle light caught in a quick, glass scowl. "I am...was a doctor. Don't forget that. My partner was something else all together." He looked down at the photograph on the table between them. "This boy is a medical anomaly. Nothing more." Pale lips smirked around a cigarette, then dispelled the smoke in a smooth purr. "One would think that you didn't like having me in your debt."

"Oh no, I quite like knowing that I own you."

"And you'll collect when?" Ash flicked from the cigarette's tip, sifting through the air to the carpet.

"When I feel like it." One gloved finger reached out and stirred a soft fall of pale hair. "When I feel like it."


	3. Binding

_Chapter 3: Binding _

He stared up at the moon, its face reflecting down on the cherry blossoms carpeting the ground, dyeing them red.

It didn't seem real.

His eyes tracked back down to the man under the tree, to the woman lying too still at the man's feet. "Why?"

"It was past her time." The man smiled, tilting his head so his bangs fell back, revealing the glass orb beneath them. "It was the only way to make her leave."

"You can't live past your time." He snorted. "When it's your time…you die."

"Not so, little one. Not always."

Something coiled, tightening in his mind. "Then I won't die either." His chin notched up, defiant, proud. "I'll live forever and you can't stop me!"

"Oh really?"

* * *

The boy was small, fragile, but he could almost see the snake looking through those eyes. "Oh really?"

"Yes!" The boy took a step backwards, turning to run.

A flicker of power and his arm was around the boy's waist, like the serpent waiting to claim him, knife kissing the pale skin. "No. You'll die at your appointed time. I'll make certain of it."

The snake screamed as his knife sliced through the bonds it had already formed, sending power backlashing through the darkness. The boy screamed as he forged new bonds, tying them together. "You have no choices in this life, boy. Accept that."


	4. Three Years Later

_Chapter 4: Three Years Later _

Three years.

His body convulsed on the bed, one last, desperate spasm.

Three years.

Somewhere, something was screaming…inhuman…angry. It had been waiting for him. He was free of it…but he was passing from one bondage to another.

Three years.

Memory smiled at him across the lapsed time. _You'll die at your appointed time._

Three years later his eyes fixed on the ceiling, glass green slowly misting over like a marble in salt water. His convulsions stilled and the rasping of his breath softened. Along the sliver fall of moonlight, shimmering red pathways opened, and he followed.

Owari


	5. Reaction

_Chapter 5: Reaction _

The boy hadn't put up a fight when he was told who his partner would be, not even after being told what his partner had been. It was odd.

"You're certain this arrangement is to your liking?" Konoe asked, eyeing the slender boy in front of him. "If you'd like another partner, I'm certain we could find..."

"It'll be fine." Hisoka cut him off, staring disinterestedly out the window. "I don't care who my partner is. I just want someone who'll do their share of the work."

"Well." The older man grimaced. "No one's ever said Muraki didn't do that."

* * *

"So, who's Konoe kaichou going to have sitting in the wings for when this one dumps him?" Watari asked, looking across the room at the newcomer.

"I don't know." Tatsumi grimaced, the look in his eyes a bit more suspicious.

Amber eyes turned to the secretary. "It would be a pity if he broke us up, but I'm about the only one in the department who hasn't worked with Muraki yet. They might have us switch." An impish grin spread across the scientist's face. "Could be interesting."

"Be careful what you ask for, Watari. You just might get it."

* * *

They'd looked like they were going to be perfect partners. They had the same drive, the same commitment to details, the same habit of keeping others at a distance.

The one point where they hadn't matched was their viciousness. They were both ruthless, tracking down straying souls with the tenacity of wolf hounds, but Tatsumi never went beyond what it took to retrieve that soul. Muraki did. Frequently. He was reprimanded, of course, but still...

Now Tatsumi watched their new recruit and wondered, why had the boy caved in so easily?

_Have you done something we don't know about, Muraki?_

_

* * *

_

The door clicked behind them, leaving the new partners to "get acquainted."

Green eyes narrowed. Silver ones smiled back.

"I was wondering when, exactly, I'd be seeing you, Kurosaki-kun. Welcome."

The boy hissed. "Let me go you shit eating bastard!"

"Now, now, Kurosaki." The doctor smiled, too sweet. "If we're going to be partners, we're going to have to try to get along." His tone turned dangerous and he stood, crossing to look directly in his new partner's eyes. "And we are going to be partners, aren't we?"

Red lines skimmed across Hisoka's skin and he grimaced. "Damn you, yes."

"Oh good."

Owari


	6. Miscalculation

_Chapter 6: Miscalculation _

He'd needed three more days of observation to solve the mystery, to know what had kept the boy alive for so many years. Tsuzuki Asato slit his wrists after two.

He'd gone back to the Count, of course, disheveled, half frantic, damn near begging. Just another day...please, just another day.

"Shhhh..." The Count soothed, stunned by the strength of the Shinigami's reaction. "There are some secrets even we aren't meant to know."

"I was so damn close!" Muraki half collapsed against the Count's unseen body. "So close...just one more day... damnit."

Gloves stroked over silver hair, trying to ease the frustration.

Owari  



	7. Don't Touch

_Chapter 7: Don't Touch _

Touching Watari was like drinking spiked coffee with too much sugar.

On the surface, the scientist was all mirth and no matter, jumping from point to point with the most incomprehensible lack of logic known to man.

Underneath lay something stronger, frighteningly intelligent, with a bite that cauterized the mind.

Hisoka often wished the scientist was the one partnered with the doctor instead of him.

* * *

Touching Tatsumi was like kissing a frozen razor. It hurt, immensely, but it was a clean hurt, a cold one, and the Shadow Master kept the razor turned on himself.

Slowly he bled the guilt from his blood stream, trying to purge himself the way surgeons of old used to try and leech poison from snake bites.

Of course, any surgeon could have told him that the method didn't work.

Fortunately, Tatsumi didn't like to be touched. Hisoka was grateful.

* * *

Touching Muraki was agony. It was lying in a room at night, ravenous with hunger, being pulled steadily in two opposite directions at the same time while someone, somewhere, laughed hysterically and someone else gibbered nonsense.

The darkness sharpened the senses, the mind, made the doctor more aware. The rest of it just drove him insane.

Hisoka often wondered as he lay, pressed against the older man's body, what part of that hunger he was supposed to feed.

* * *

He'd touched Tsuzuki Asato once as the man lay dying. He'd screamed, fled, curled into a corner swearing that he'd never touch him again.

_There's too much darkness…too much._

Owari

_

* * *

_

**End Part I**

* * *

Author's Note: As many of you have noted in your comments, I posted this piece by short piece, even though it made commenting difficult. The reason I did this was in hopes that, by the time we got here, I would have part II (and hopefully parts III and IV) finished. ...I don't know who I thought I was fooling. Now, don't get me wrong, I've worked on all three parts. I even like two or three drabbles. But they're nowhere near finished, so I'm afraid I can't even guess when this will next be updated. I promise, I'll have Part II finished, at least, before I start dropping bitlets in here again. On the bright side, this means if there are any questions you have that you'd like to have answered, you can leave them in the reviews section and I'll take them under advisement, although I don't gurentee anything (and I should warn you, I don't respond well to demands. Insisting that I MUST pair two characters up actually lessens the chances of it happening). Thank you very much for reading. 


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